FHI - Women's Studies

The Women's Studies Project (WSP), a five-year research project that ended in 1999, was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Project examined the immediate and long-term consequences of the use of family planning methods and services, with the aim of strengthening programs to better meet women's reproductive health needs. As part of these efforts, FHI worked to expand the research skills and repertoire of local investigators, providing technical assistance in the use of qualitative research methodologies and approaches to incorporating gender perspectives in research. Researchers worked collaboratively with family planning professionals, non-governmental organizations and women's health advocates to study the impact of family planning on women's lives -- from project development to dissemination of results.

The WSP conducted 26 studies in Bolivia, Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Jamaica, South Korea, Mali, the Philippines and Zimbabwe. A study supported by the Rockefeller Foundation was conducted in China. In addition, secondary analyses of existing data from Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria and the Philippines were done. Through this research, the WSP examined the impact of family planning use or non-use on several aspects of women's lives including pregnancy and childbearing experience; self-esteem and autonomy; household and family roles; community and societal roles; and work and education. Several conceptual frameworks were developed by the project, as well as many publications, including:

Case studies on women-centered health programs

Country reports, research summaries and factsheets

Women's Voices, Women's Lives: The Impact of Family Planning, A Synthesis of Findings from the Women's Studies Project

More working papers on gender issues

Through a Gender Lens. Family Health International: Research Triangle Park, NC. March 1998.

"Through a Gender Lens" reviews existing models and methodologies for incorporating a gender perspective into U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) development initiatives. Its purpose is to make preliminary recommendations and to initiate discussion among those working in the Population, Health and Nutrition (PHN) sector about their specific gender needs and how best to adapt current models and methodologies to meet them. The paper illustrates the key ideas necessary for understanding how gender might affect PHN projects and leads the reader to key documents that may be most useful and most relevant to PHN work.

Reflections on Gender and Fertility in Brazil: Abstracts. Family Health International: Research Triangle Park, NC. October 1996.

How has Brazil's decline in fertility affected women's lives? In a series of papers, Brazilian women's health advocates examine the impact of family planning on women's empowerment. The papers include discussions of: AIDS and reproductive health, motherhood and women's participation in the work force, contraceptive practices and abortion, violence against women, and children's education and gender. Summaries of the papers are presented here in English.

Reflex�es sobre g�nero e fecundidade no Brasil. Family Health International: Research Triangle Park, NC. outubro 1995. (Em Portugu�s)

Como que o decl�nio da fecundidade no Brasil tem afetado as vidas das mulheres? Numa s�rie de documentos, patronos da sa�de da mulher brasileira examinam o impacto da planifica��o familiar na fortifica��o da mulher. Os documentos cont�m argumentos sobre: AIDS e a sa�de reprodutiva, maternidade e a participa��o da mulher na area de trabalho, pr�ticas anticoncepcionais e aborto, viol�ncia contra a mulher, e a educa��o da crian�a e sexo.